The Madras High Court was on Monday informed that various universities in the State have decided to conduct arrear examinations, after the court, through its interim order on December 1, 2020, restrained them from declaring that all students had passed without conducting examinations — online, offline or both modes.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, therefore, directed the individual universities to file reports by February 4 indicating the status with respect to the conduct of the arrear examinations. The direction was issued on a batch of cases filed against the State government’s decision to cancel the arrear examinations.
Defending the government order (G.O.) issued on August 26, 2020 (to pass all students), Special Government Pleader E. Manoharan told the court that it was issued to save students from COVID-19. He also said the G.O. was in consonance with the then advisory issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which had insisted on conducting the final-year examinations alone.
However, after former Anna University Vice-Chancellor E. Balagurusamy and advocate B. Ramkumar Adityan filed public interest litigation petitions challenging the G.O., the UGC filed a counter-affidavit insisting on the conduct of the arrear examinations. Since the COVID-19 situation, too, had improved by December, the court passed interim orders, he said.
On the other hand, advocate E. Vijay Anand, representing the former Vice-Chancellor, urged the Bench to quash the G.O. and order that the students could not be declared to have passed the arrear examinations without writing them. The counsel said it would set a bad precedent and demoralise the students who had cleared all the papers.
